Edmonton (provincial electoral district)

Seats

Districts

For the 1913 election, Edmonton South Provincial electoral district was created from the old Strathcona constituency to elect one MLA. The Edmonton constituency elected two members by the block vote system.

1905 general election

1909 and 1913 general elections

In 1913 Charles Cross was elected in Edmonton and Edson.

1921 general election

This election was conducted using block voting, where each Edmonton voter could cast up to five votes. The percentages shown in the table below indicate the proportion of the voters casting votes who may have cast votes in the candidate's favour. For example, a third of the voters casting all five of their votes for the Liberals would accrue a total of 150 "percent" of the votes while the candidates would still only receive the support of a third of the voters. With the rest of the votes split among other parties, the Liberals with only a third of he voter support did take all the Edmonton seats in this election.

Alberta general election, 1921
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	Elected
	Liberal	Andrew Robert McLennan	6,498	36.20%	Y
	Liberal	John Campbell Bowen	5,803	32.33%	Y
	Liberal	Nellie McClung	5,388	30.02%	Y
	Liberal	John Robert Boyle	5,361	29.86%	Y
	Liberal	Jeremiah Wilfred Heffernan	5,289	29.46%	Y
	United Farmers	William Jackman	4,978	27.73%
	Conservative	Albert Freeman Ewing	4,777	26.61%
	Labour	A. A. Campbell	3,736	20.81%
	Conservative	Herbert Howard Crawford	3,553	19.79%
	Conservative	Elizabeth Ferris	3,188	17.76%
	Labour	Robert McCreath	2,931	16.33%
	Independent	Joseph Woods Adair	2,571	14.32%
	Labour	Elmer Ernest Roper	2,515	14.01%
	Conservative	Ambrose Upton Gledstanes Bury	2,509	13.98%
	Conservative	William A. Wells	2,329	12.97%
	Independent	James Kennedy Cornwall	2,082	11.60%
	Independent	A. L. Marks	1,744	9.72%
	Independent Liberal	Gerald Pelton	1,467	8.17%
	Independent	William Short	1,447	8.06%
	Independent Labour	William R. Ball	1,409	7.85%
	Independent	A. Boileau	1,226	6.83%
	Independent Labour	Mary Cantin	1,133	6.31%
	Independent Labour	Ernest Brown	1,073	5.98%
	Independent Labour	James Bailey	941	5.24%
	Independent Labour	Joe E. White	927	5.16%
	Labour Socialist	Marie Millard	883	4.92%
Total votes cast			17,951
Source: "Election results for Edmonton, 1921". Alberta Online Encyclopedia. Retrieved 2010-07-06.

1924 Edmonton by-Election

This was the first election in Alberta to use STV, the system just introduced for elections in Alberta's largest cities.

W.T. Henry got the most votes in the first count but no candidate received a majority of them so subsequent counts were held using second choices of the lower-ranking candidates. He was elected on third count.

Communist Party candidate H.M. Bartholomew showed strong third place showing, almost exceeding Conservative candidate on the second count.

1926 general election

The sum of the candidates' vote totals below do not equal the votes cast recorded here because of the number of spoiled ballots, an unfortunate by-product of STV. 15,130 valid ballots were cast in Edmonton in this election.

Under the STV procedure used (the Hare system), the quota necessary to win a seat was 3026 (15,130 divided by 5, the number of seats being contested). Prevey and Duggan won seats without the quota in the last counts, after other candidates were dropped out.

The result was roughly proportional with two Conservatives, a Liberal, a Labour and a UFA winning seats. Not all the five leaders in the first count were elected - Independent Liberal Joe Clarke did not make quota in first count and did not pick up enough votes from other candidates' later preferences to get quota, likely due to not being in a political party. Liberal candidate J.C. Bowen was in top five in first count, but also did not get quota and despite being in a party, was not elected - many of the other Liberal party supporters' second preferences went to another Liberal candidate, Prevey, a more popular individual overall, it seems.

Labour although not having anyone in top five spots in first count, did capture a seat. This was proportional - it received about 20 percent of the vote spread over five candidates. Farmilo, the leading labour candidate in the first count, was not elected though. Gibbs, who was apparently on an individual basis more popular overall than Farmilo, got quota in later counts through distribution of others' second preferences, such as Joe Clarke supporters probably.

Conservatives Duggan and Weaver did not get quota in first count. Weaver did later when his companion Conservative candidates were dropped out. Duggan got a seat by being one of the last ones still standing when the last counts were held.

Alberta general election, 1926
Party		Candidate	Votes 1st count	%	Votes final count	%	Elected
	United Farmers	John Lymburn	3,046	16.27%	3,026	21.19%	Y
	Conservative	Charles Weaver	2,202	11.76%	3,026	21.19%	Y
	Liberal	Warren Prevey	1,517	8.10%	2,940	20.58%	Y
	Independent Liberal	Joseph Clarke	1,179	6.30%
	Liberal	John C. Bowen	1,147	6.13%
	Independent	Samuel Barnes	1,060	5.66%
	Labour	Alfred Farmilo	973	5.20%
	Conservative	F. J. Follinsbee	881	4.71%
	Labour	Charles Gibbs	879	4.70%	3,026	21.19%	Y
	Liberal	William Thomas Henry	858	4.58%
	Conservative	David Duggan	857	4.58%	2,265	15.86%	Y
	Conservative	Herbert Crawford	782	4.18%
	Labour	James Findlay	628	3.35%
	Labour	Jan Lakeman	605	3.23%
	Liberal	William Rea	561	3.00%
	Labour	Elmer Roper	478	2.55%
	Conservative	M. W. Robertson	361	1.93%
	Independent	J. W. Leedy	140	0.75%
Votes cast			18,721
Eligible electors / Turnout			33,741	55.5%
Source: "Election results for Edmonton, 1926". Alberta Online Encyclopedia. Retrieved 2009-09-23.

1930 general election

Alberta general election, 1930
Party		Candidate	Votes 1st count	%	Votes final count	%	Elected
	United Farmers	John Lymburn	3,230	14.76%	3,028	17.54%	Y
	Conservative	David Duggan	2,665	12.18%	3,028	17.54%	Y
	Labour	Charles Gibbs	2,262	10.34%	3,028	17.54%	Y
	Conservative	Charles Weaver	2,013	9.20%	2,903	16.82%	Y
	Liberal	William R. Howson	1,835	8.39%	2,915	16.89%	Y
	Conservative	William Atkinson	1,786	8.16%	2,360	13.67%	Y
	Liberal	Warren Prevey	1,331	6.08%
	Liberal	James Collisson	1,040	4.75%
	Labour	Alfred Farmilo	832	3.80%
	Labour	Samuel Barnes	818	3.74%
	Independent	Jan Lakeman	752	3.44%
	Labour	K. Knott	745	3.41%
	Conservative	N. C. Willson	451	2.06%
	Liberal	G. V. Pelton	442	2.02%
	Conservative	J. A. Buchannan	424	1.94%
	Independent	Joseph Clarke	374	1.71%
	Conservative	R. D. Tighe	189	0.86%
Turnout				55.8%
Source: "Election results for Edmonton, 1930". Alberta Online Encyclopedia. Retrieved 2009-09-23.

1935 general election

Alberta general election, 1935
Party		Candidate	Votes 1st count	Votes final count	Elected
	Liberal	William Howson	9,139	5,324	Y
	Social Credit	Samuel Barnes	4,476	5,324	Y
	Social Credit	W.S. Hall	2,818
	Social Credit	D.B. Mullen	2,500	4,932	Y
	United Farmers	J.F. Lymburn	2,092
	Social Credit	Orvis A. Kennedy	1,781
	Conservative	D.M. Duggan	1,466	5,078	Y
	Liberal	G.H. Van Allen	1,255	5,324	Y
	Social Credit	M.W. Robertson	1,243
	Liberal	Marion Conroy	1,238
	Conservative	William Atkinson	1,220
	Liberal	Gerald O'Connor	1,116	4,922	Y
	Communist	Jan Lakeman	1,096
	Conservative	Frederick Jamieson	1,029
	Social Credit	G.L. King	843
	Liberal	J.C.M. Marshall	673
	Conservative	J.E. Basarab	671
	Liberal	Walter Morrish	612
	Labour	James East	505
	Conservative	Emily Fitzsimon	363
	Labour	J.W. Findlay	331
	Economic Reconstruction	Elsie Wright	192
	Labour	Carl Berg	192
	Labour	S.S. Bowcott	166
	Labour	A. Farmilo	127
	Conservative	D.M. Ramsay	71
	Labour	Sidney Parsons	52
Total votes cast			38,052	38,052
Eligible electors / Turnout			49,212	77.3%
Source: "Election results for Edmonton, 1935". Alberta Online Encyclopedia. Retrieved 2009-09-23.

1940 general election

Five seats were open in this election. The Hare quota, the number of votes needed to win a seat, was 7291.

This election saw an anti-SC movement, made up of Liberals, Conservatives and some UFA-ers, get many seats. Page, Duggan and Macdonald were elected in Edmonton this election as candidates of the People's League AKA Unity Movement, recorded as Independent in results below. Four of that group's candidates placed in the top five spots in the first count, but this was un-proportional and the process thinned them down.

SC candidate Norman James placed low in the first count but got enough votes from other candidates who were dropped out, and from Manning's surplus votes, to take a seat, pushing out O'Connor, a Unity League candidate. He did this without achieving quota but by being one of the last ones standing when the field of candidates thinned out. Due to his personal popularity, he leapfrogged over a couple SC candidates to take the seat, demonstrating that the STV-PR is about voters' preferences for individual candidates and not party lists.

It should be noted that many of the candidates listed as Independents, such as sitting MLA D.M. Duggan, were candidates for the Unity League, an anti-SC alliance of Conservatives and Liberals.

1942 by-election

This by-election was run according to the Hare STV-PR in effect for Edmonton (and Calgary) at this time. Voters across Edmonton voted as the city was a single constituency at this time.

There was only one seat being contested so the system devolved to an Alternative Vote process, whereby the winner had to take a majority of the valid votes.

Lymburn, a former UFA cabinet minister, was running as an anti-SC Unity League candidate. He did well in the first count surpassing the vote total of the SC candidate; but both being passed by CCF-er Roper. It became a tight race between Roper and Lymburn. The winner was not named until the fourth round after three of the five candidates had been eliminated and their second preferences distributed. There is such a high number of exhausted ballots because about half of the voters who voted for the SC, Soldiers Rep and Liberal candidates did not give second preferences.

But finally when the SC candidate, the third from the bottom in the first count, was dropped off in the fourth round, the final count for the last two candidates could be established and the winner decided. It is possible that in the last round, when the SC candidate was dropped off, most of his voters' second preferences went to Roper, apparently being thought more in tune with SC's help-the-little-guy philosophy than the Conservative/Liberal-member-dominated Unity League.

1944 and 1948 general elections

These elections held under the Hare STV-PR system.

1944 Hare quota was 6306 (one-fifth of the total valid ballots). Premier Manning got it in first count. His surplus votes (enough on their own to elect another candidate) were apparently spread among the other four SC candidates (or sent elsewhere or maybe his supporters did not put down a second preference) so none of the other SC candidates received enough to take a seat right off.

Page, running for the anti-SC Unity League, here identified as Independent, was in top five in the first count. The League, winding down, ran only one candidate and League votes were not spread around. He took enough votes in the first count to hold on to take a seat in later counts.

Johnnie Caine, a WWII ace, running as an Independent, was personally popular but did not get quota in the first count and not having a party behind him, did not receive many of the other candidates' second preferences when they were dropped off.

The first candidates to be dropped were mostly Communists and CCF candidates, whose voters it seems gave their second preferences to their own, such as Roper who took a seat, and then eventually to Norman James, of the SC party. He and William J. Williams were the last two standing when the field of candidates thinned out and they took seats even without achieving the quota.

in 1948 Hare quota was 7692. Manning got it in first count. His surplus votes probably helped elect other two SC candidates.

Prowse also got quota but no other Liberal got in on his shirt-tails.

Elmer Roper too exceeded quota. His surplus was not distributed, perhaps because by then the count was at an end with only two candidates left standing to fill two remaining seats. Two SC-ers, Heard and Clayton, took these without achieving quota.

Result was roughly proportional to the three parties that ran in this contest. (The Conservatives stayed out, supporting Page, an opponent of the SC government, running for the Independent Citizens' Association.)

Premier Manning alone took almost half the votes in the first count, and his party took more than half the seats. The CCF took one sixth of the votes and one-fifth of the seats. The Liberals took about one-fifth the votes and one-fifth of the seats. Only about one-tenth of the votes were wasted - this included Page.

On a candidate basis, two of the top five in the first count were not elected. Page was not popular with enough second preferences, while Liberal Lazarowich also did not have holding power.

1952 and 1955 general elections

By-Elections

1948 Electrification Plebiscite

District results from the first province wide plebiscite on electricity regulation.

1957 liquor plebiscite

On October 30, 1957 a stand-alone plebiscite was held province wide in all 50 of the then current provincial electoral districts in Alberta. The government decided to consult Alberta voters to decide on liquor sales and mixed drinking after a divisive debate in the Legislature. The plebiscite was intended to deal with the growing demand for reforming antiquated liquor control laws.^[4]

The plebiscite was conducted in two parts. Question A asked in all districts, asked the voters if the sale of liquor should be expanded in Alberta, while Question B asked in a handful of districts within the corporate limits of Calgary and Edmonton asked if men and woman were allowed to drink together in establishments.^[3] Question B was slightly modified depending on which city the voters were in.^[3]

Province wide Question A of the plebiscite passed in 33 of the 50 districts while Question B passed in all five districts. Edmonton voted overwhelmingly in favor of the plebiscite. The district recorded slightly above average voter turnout almost just over the province wide 46% average with over half of eligible voters casting a ballot.^[3]

Edmonton also voted on Question B2. Residents voted for mixed drinking with a super majority. Turnout for question B. Turnout for Question B was slightly lower and than Question A.^[3]

Official district returns were released to the public on December 31, 1957.^[3] The Social Credit government in power at the time did not considered the results binding.^[5] However the results of the vote led the government to repeal all existing liquor legislation and introduce an entirely new Liquor Act.^[6]

Municipal districts lying inside electoral districts that voted against the Plebiscite were designated Local Option Zones by the Alberta Liquor Control Board and considered effective dry zones, business owners that wanted a license had to petition for a binding municipal plebiscite in order to be granted a license.^[7]